Latest news with #civics
Yahoo
5 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Inside the fight against the Oklahoma's plan to push Trump's big election lie in schools
Director of "We're Oklahoma Education" Erica Watkins joins "The Weekend" to share what she and other local parents are doing to fight against the Oklahoma Public Schools plan to teach Trump's Big Election Lie as fact in high school civics classes.
ABC News
17-05-2025
- Politics
- ABC News
New media literacy lessons aim to tackle crushing civics results
Australia's governor-general is on a mission to reverse declining civics scores among Australian students. She's driven by two factors: young people's poor understanding of how democracy works, and their lack of faith in our institutions — both at record lows. "I think misinformation and disinformation is the great scourge of our time," Her Excellency, the Honourable Sam Mostyn, said. But even for a trailblazing business leader with a lifetime of achievement, the task of improving young people's ability to engage in democracy is enormous — and the stakes even higher. "It's one of the things that can weaken us as a country. We don't want to have a generation coming through that don't understand how to access our civics, how to be participants as citizens," Ms Mostyn said. She plans to be a "visible" governor-general, and throwing her weight behind moves to improve civics knowledge will be a key part of that. One such move she's backed is a push to include more civics in the national curriculum. The ABC can reveal a new teaching model will be rolled out across Australian schools to counter poor results in recent civic exams and fight back against misinformation and disinformation. It will be woven into different subject areas and is part of Australia's first media literacy strategy announced in December. The move will complement other initiatives by the government, schools and other groups around the country. If the mission to improve civics understanding fails, the consequences will be felt not just by students leaving school but by the entire nation, according to Ms Mostyn. "I think there is [a lot at stake] if we are to be a truly great nation," Ms Mostyn said. For her, Australia's civic institutions and democratic history are the glue that unites Indigenous heritage, British colonialism and millions of new migrants. "A three-part braided story of our country: 65,000 years of attachment to this continent, with the longest ever continuous culture … the arrival of the British with these institutions that we still cherish. And then the last 50, 60 years of over 8 million now-Australian citizens coming from somewhere else," she said. Stirring words to inspire, but it's a story too few young Australians know about. Test scores released by ACARA (Australian Curriculum and Assessment Reporting Authority) this year showed that just 28 per cent of Year 10 students and 43 per cent of Year 6 students are proficient in civics. It's the worst result in 20 years of testing. "What we've seen is that trend continuing, but it has had a more steep decline," ACARA CEO Stephen Gniel, said. He said with fewer than one in three Year 10 students being proficient in civics, it's something "we need to take really seriously". One school taking it very seriously is Ambarvale High School. On the fringes of south-west Sydney, it lies in a fast-growing region where paddocks are quickly turning into housing development. It's the kind of place politicians love to visit at election time. Last year ACARA listed the school as one of its top-performing despite 87 per cent of students being ranked in the bottom half of educational disadvantage. The school is punching above its weight with civics studies by finding new ways to engage students in a subject kids can find dull. "A focus in my team is on getting kids involved in real-world examples. We've taken our kids to Parliament House, we've taken our kids to have a Q&A forum with the local member of Campbelltown, Greg Warren," head teacher Jo Novak said. "When we hold our general elections for senior leaders, we set up our voting booths and we have the kids do paper votes and cast it into a ballot box." But there's more to the problem than exposure to the mechanics of democracy. The ABC recently held a community engagement event at the school and the message from students was clear: adults are a big part of the problem. As non-voting observers of the recent federal election, these 15 to 17-year-olds were put off by the negativity on display and attempts to engage them on social media. "I thought anything on Instagram was insulting to younger generations," Alex said, speaking about the parties' social media campaigning. Her friends, who will all be voting at the next election, agreed. "A lot of the stuff online like TikTok, Instagram, was jokes and memes. Nothing really serious," Lili said. As well as better communication, they wanted to see meaningful policies for young people and were eager to be involved in civic life. "They do really question whether the political parties are taking their views on board," Ms Novak said. A recent senate inquiry into civics education and political participation found arming young people with the skills to weed out misinformation was critical. "Whether it's a news story, a television show, an online video or a social media post, our young people need to learn how to sort fact from fiction, and work out whether something is credible or not," Mr Gniel said. Brisbane State High School was an early adopter of explicit teaching of media literacy, designed to guide students through identifying misinformation and biases in traditional and new media. "Building the skills within a student to look at something and go, 'Can I trust that? Or what question should I ask first? Or who made that? And what vested interests do they have in it?'," teacher Aimee Gust said. Similar lessons will now be rolled out nationwide with ACARA unveiling a new teaching resource tomorrow called curriculum connections: media consumers and creators. The new national curriculum lessons will be available to teachers from kindergarten all the way though to Year 10. The key skills it will aim to equip students with include understanding and analysing contemporary media and creating media content. It also aims to empower students to be critical of media bias, understand misinformation and how to be ethical in sharing material online. Some experts though, like Trisha Jha from the Centre for Independent Studies, believe there is a case for broader reform of civics education. And ACARA's chief said changes in schools needed to be accompanied by work at home too, suggesting families chat about civics education and Australian democracy. "It's really important. We've just been through a great opportunity for those conversations, haven't we, with a federal election?" Mr Gneil said. It's a big task but the governor-general hopes to use high office to push for high-stakes change and is buoyed by the efforts of others. "I'm hugely optimistic. We have huge opportunity to strengthen our democracy," she said.
Yahoo
09-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Wyan-Pine 5th graders participate in mock 'We the People' congressional hearing
Wyan-Pine Grove Elementary School fifth graders in Social Studies teacher Kristy Patton's third block class had the unique opportunity of participating in a mock "We the People" congressional hearing last Wednesday, April 30. At the hearing, three different groups of students took turns introducing themselves, giving speeches, and answering follow-up questions by judges. Judges at the simulated hearing included Superintendent Denise Griebel of Laurel County Public Schools, State Senator Brandon Storm (R-London), and State Representative Shane Baker (R-Somerset, District 85). Also present to assist with the hearing was Glenn Manns, Civics Empowers All Students Coordinator for We the People. "Students researched various topics about our government using We the People curriculum," Patton commented. "All fifth grade students were provided with the We the People curriculum this year to boost students' success in civics, literacy, and related competencies through inclusive teaching to become engaged and informed citizens to take an active role in democracy." The fifth graders showcased their knowledge on civics topics as a panel, defending their respective position based on the United States Constitution. Each group focused on a different unit. The first group consisted of Nate Warren, Kinslie Smith, Jennifer Do, Korben Allen and Atreyu Smith. This group of students discussed Unit 2 of the curriculum, which addresses which major conflicts required the framers of the Philadelphia Convention to make compromises, why it was difficult for the framers to reach an agreement on how to resolve their conflict, and how the compromise of later adding a Bill of Rights affected the Constitution. Group two included Izayah Patterson, Avery Damron, Isaiah Smith, Cole Knuckles, Cooper Harris, and Camila Mascorro. The group addressed the topics of Unit 3, pertaining to how the Constitution organizes government, the powers of the president, and how the framers used separation of powers and checks and balances to limit the powers of government. The third and final group consisted of Max Barnard, Raelyn Ivy, Colt Collins, and Sadie Hamlin. This group discussed what freedom of expression is and why it is important to democracy, how the Constitution protects freedom of expression, how the Constitution protects freedom of religion, and what freedom of the press should entail — all of which is addressed in Unit 4. We The People: Civics that Empowers All Students is a "federally funded project of the Center for Civic Education." The project is intended to support effective educator development. To learn more about We the People, visit
Associated Press
07-05-2025
- Politics
- Associated Press
Bill of Rights Institute Launches Comprehensive Free Civics Curriculum for American Schools
With 40 lessons, Government and Politics: Civics for the American Experiment helps students explore representative government, civil society and civic virtues. 'With Government and Politics: Civics for the American Experiment, students everywhere can develop the knowledge and skills they need for lives of productive, principled citizenship.' — David J. Bobb, Ph.D., President & CEO ARLINGTON, VA, UNITED STATES, May 7, 2025 / / -- For more than 25 years, the Bill of Rights Institute has worked to ensure all students receive a quality civic and history education. Now, classrooms across America will have access to a new comprehensive civics curriculum – offered at no cost to educators and schools. The Bill of Rights Institute announced today the launch of its new civics curriculum, Government and Politics: Civics for the American Experiment. A national leader in the publication of open educational resources (OER), the Bill of Rights Institute offers more than 6,000 classroom resources and supports a network of more than 80,000 teachers who reach 8 million students per year. With Government and Politics: Civics for the American Experiment, the Institute is offering its most comprehensive civics curriculum to date. Government and Politics: Civics for the American Experiment offers 7 units and 40 lessons, and examines the relationships between civil society, our government, and citizens. Students explore the structure of American government alongside key concepts like self-governance, founding principles like liberty, justice, and equality, and civic virtues. The curriculum was pilot tested with classroom teachers and offers multiple engaging resources, including primary sources, point/counterpoint debates, informative videos, essays, case studies, and more. Government and Politics: Civics for the American Experiment also marks the Bill of Rights Institute's entry into game-based learning, with a series of interactives and tabletop games designed to increase student learning, comprehension, and knowledge retention. Bill of Rights Institute President and CEO David J. Bobb, Ph.D., said that Government and Politics: Civics for the American Experiment gives teachers an immediate new tool to increase civic learning, without having to rely on cost-prohibitive textbooks. 'We believe all students should have access to a quality civic education, regardless of ZIP Code or school budget,' Bobb said. 'With Government and Politics: Civics for the American Experiment, students everywhere can develop the knowledge and skills they need for lives of productive, principled citizenship.' The Bill of Rights Institute is a national nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that teaches civics and history through market-leading curricula and educational programs for teachers and students. To learn more about Bill of Rights Institute programs and resources, visit . Kevin Hart Bill of Rights Institute +1 202-674-1237 email us here Legal Disclaimer: EIN Presswire provides this news content 'as is' without warranty of any kind. We do not accept any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, images, videos, licenses, completeness, legality, or reliability of the information contained in this article. If you have any complaints or copyright issues related to this article, kindly contact the author above.
